And the Day Returns Too Soon
by Carpe Vitam
Summary: Gwen was potentially bonkers, Rhys was potentially dying, Ianto was potentially the devil incarnate, and all Jack could do was stand and stare at the scene before him.


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Disclaimer: Really? People still do these things? Whatevs. You know the drill.

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Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste of death but once… For a man who has died countless times and, as yet, had never expired, what did that mean for him? Was he a coward facing death? Or was he just a hero confronting the inevitable? What did it mean to die anyway? Maybe it just meant to stop living. But if it were that simple then he had seen many people die and still maintain a pulse, heartbeat, even in a few cases a fairly active social life.

He almost smiled, thinking of Owen. Bitter, cynical Owen who had been the living dead nearly all his life until he literally was the living dead. And only then did he actually start living. It was sort of ironic. And a massive contradiction. Never mind Owen then. Owen was confusing him. What was he saying? Right. Death. What did it mean to die? Was it to cease living or to cease to exist? Maybe it was both. A combined effort.

Once, for a brief moment, he thought he saw Tosh die. Before she actually did, of course. But then, he hadn't actually been there for her expiration. She had left before they got to her, because Owen had and she would've followed him anywhere really. Did that sound callous, referring to her passing as expiring? Considering that in his world one did have to specify, maybe it was only appropriate. When he walked into that big empty warehouse with nothing in it but a table and two chairs and she just sat there she seemed miles away. In that hideous, awkward, orange jumpsuit, head bowed insecurely, hands folded in her lap.

She was scared. Obviously. But for a flicker of an instant when her eyes finally met his, he thought he saw death inside her. He may have been wrong. It hardly lasted and later when he thought about it, he wasn't sure he saw anything at all. He did remember that hollowness, that emptiness, that void in her quickly being replaced by something bright and full and almost sparkling. In that one instant she had gone from giving up on life to suddenly being full of life. But had that been the same as being dead? She had stopped wanting to live, if only for a moment. He was sure of it. Well… pretty sure. At least, he thought he could recognize death if it was staring him in the face. Like a coward would.

He sat at his desk, a bitter taste in his mouth. Sometimes, most times really, he thought he knew the answers. He didn't know them the way Ianto knew them but to be fair few human beings did. Sometimes he considered the possibility that Ianto wasn't human but just pure empathy and intelligence that roamed the universe for millennia until finally it decided to craft itself into a corporeal form and Ianto was the end result. Not a bad form at all really, Jack thought, and for the first time that evening a small smile graced his lips.

But he was still angsty. And it as such a misspent-youth feeling and he really hated it. He was too old to be feeling so self-indulgent and broody. Or maybe he was finally old enough. Whatever the case, he wasn't going to find any enlightenment sitting in a dimly lit office, in a dank, dark Hub in the middle of the night drinking increasingly colder coffee and feeling very sorry for himself. Why was his coffee cold?

Captain Jack looked around his office with a start. He listened for some sign that his team, what remained of it, were still in the Hub but he heard nothing. He shouldn't have been surprised really, but not even the water leaks could be heard. It was strange. And a little unnerving. He stood up and walked to the window of his office. Hands in his pockets, mouth set in a stern grim line, he surveyed his land. His brow furrowed as his considered that line of thought and decided that while it was incredibly pretentious, at least nobody had heard it. Speaking of nobody, he was pleasantly surprised to see that his team, again what remained of it, was actually there, and diligently at work doing… what were they doing?

Gwen was standing atop the couch, waving her arms about dramatically and mouthing something Jack couldn't make out. Ianto, sweet and mild mannered Ianto appeared to be a raving lunatic swinging a blade around, which he had probably nicked from the archives. And Rhys, whom he hadn't seen for a good few weeks now that he thought about it, was holding something small but shiny and both he and Ianto seemed to be in a dialogue of some sort. What in god's name was happening here? Why the hell couldn't he hear anything?

He raised his hand to knock on the window and draw their attention but just then he saw Ianto charge at Rhys with his blade and Rhys threw the small but shiny object to Gwen, who had ceased her odd ravings only long enough to catch the bottle before returning to her previous task. Rhys collapsed with the blade driven through him and Ianto stood over him, simply staring down on him. Rhys twitched and spasmed and reached out to Gwen, who appeared devastated by her husband's death but continued her soundless speech nonetheless. Ianto and Rhys began a new dialogue and Jack found himself rushing to his door and yanking it open and practically leaping down the stairs. He caught a few words here and there from Gwen's mad recitation and vaguely recalled hearing something like it before. But he couldn't think about that now. His team was clearly under the influence of some kind of… crazy… time-rift… alien… thing?

As he reached the landing just near Toshiko's station, Ianto was turning aside from Rhys and he held out a hand in Jack's direction. To which Jack, completely taken by surprise, actually obeyed. This surprised him even more and he opened his mouth to speak but Ianto cut him off.

"Do not interrupt." Was all he said, and he turned back to Rhys and Gwen. Jack wanted to say something, do something. Gwen was potentially bonkers, Rhys was potentially dying, Ianto was potentially the devil incarnate, and all Jack could do was stand and stare at the scene before him.

"Though the night was made for loving, and the day returns too soon," Ianto was saying, as Gwen quieted and, still standing, leant back against the wall with her hands behind her looking forlornly at her dying lover and he in turn was staring blankly at a spot on the wall to the left of Gwen, his breathing shallow and his eyes heavy.

"Yet we'll go no more a-roving," Ianto said, as Rhys took a final breath. And as Gwen looked away, her eyes distant and lost, Ianto concluded. "By the light of the moon,"

There was a moment of silence and Jack realized he was still just standing and staring at the madness before him. Suddenly the room was echoing with sound again. Gwen fell to the couch, cackling like a crazy woman, clutching her stomach. Rhys was having a good old time on the floor, attempting to remove the blade that Jack realized was not actually stuck in him but was really just a prop of some kind. The lack of blood should have been a dead giveaway, Jack thought wryly. And Ianto, sweet and mild mannered Ianto was well on his way to a hernia if he didn't get a hold of his hysterics soon. And Jack could do nothing but stare.

"What is… is there a reason…. Does somebody wanna tell me…? I'll give it a minute then…" And he did, leaning back on the wall and waiting for the three lunatics to settle themselves. It took Gwen three attempts at speaking but only being able to get a few words of coherent speech in before she feel about laughing again, and Rhys nearly as many attempts, before Ianto took a calming breath and looked at Jack.

"Please," he said to Jack. "Try to understand," For a moment Jack thought they were finally going to get somewhere logical. "We're only human!" And the moment went flitting away as the trio fell about in giggles again. Jack sighed and continued leaning in his sexy but patronizing and slightly dramatic way that he did. And waited for the crazies to get it together.

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"That was Shakespeare?" Jack asked. Ianto nodded, and started to respond, but Jack interrupted him. "_That_ was Shakespeare?" Again, Ianto nodded and attempted to respond. "That was _Shakespeare_?"

"Yes Jack, Shakespeare. Doesn't matter where you put the emphasis. I'm sure The Doctor's told you all about him and our interpretation was nothing close to the original and blah blah blah but if you would stop criticizing and let me explain…" Ianto waited for Jack to interrupt again, but instead Jack gestured for him to continue.

"Thank you Captain," Ianto said, not altogether sarcastically. "The thing is…" he began slowly, doing that adorable thing where he spoke with his hands. "See, a lot's happened in the past few weeks…" Here, Ianto stared at the hands that were explaining more than he was.

"I'm aware of that Ianto," Jack felt the need to remind him. "I was here."

"Exactly my point Sir," Ianto said, meeting his eye. "You are. And so are we,"

Ianto waited patiently for Jack to pick up. When he didn't, he continued, rolling his eyes ever so subtly. "Everybody hurts Jack, and do not comment on the song, the band, or the lyric itself," Ianto added holding up a hand to Jack's attempt at yet another interruption. Jack pouted but allowed Ianto to continue.

"We miss them Jack, horribly… and we want them back, horribly," Ianto sighed and leaned back in the booth he was occupying across from Jack at a local diner. Behind them a few tables Gwen was trying to throw chips into Rhys' mouth, and the pair laughed on the few times that she did.

"But they aren't coming back," Jack said, sighing heavily and leaning back as well.

"No. No, they aren't. However," and Jack looked up hopefully. "That's no reason why we should be all depressed and broody and stay-in-our-office-twenty-four-seven-and-not-even-realize-that-our-team-has-put-in-a-sound-block-because-we're-so-busy-being-doom-and-gloomy."

Jack did a double take. "You did what?"

"Irrelevant," Ianto waved his hand apathetically. "The point is, we just did a multi-Shakespeare-interpretation, not my term, and it was really fun, and cathartic, and we loved every second of it, and we wanted to do it again… and you weren't a part of it," Ianto leaned across the table and reached for Jack's hand, which he willingly gave. "You should've been a part of it,"

Jack smiled and leaned in closer. "Next time I will be?" he asked slowly and hopefully. Ianto smiled in response and kissed his leader on the nose quickly before settling back in his booth, his hand still entwined with Jack's. Under the table he tapped Jack's boot with his shoe until Jack returned the gesture.

"So, I recognized Julius Caeser, and I'm pretty sure that bit between yourself and Rhys was from… Macbeth?" Jack asked. Ianto nodded confirmation. "What were you saying at the end there? About the day returning too soon? That wasn't Shakespeare,"

"Nope. No it was not. You are correct Sir," Ianto cleared his throat, and mumbled something else under his breath.

"…Excuse me?" Jack said. To which Ianto again mumbled under his breath. "_Byron_?"

"Yes, Byron," Ianto rolled his eyes. "I know you think he's an Oscar Wilde reading friend of Dorothy but I happen to think he's brilliant so stuff it,"

Jack laughed and Ianto nearly melted in his booth. "Oscar Wilde reading…"

"Friend of Dorothy," Ianto finished. "You heard me,"

"What were you watching Clueless or something?" Ianto didn't respond. "Oh my god, you were watching Clueless,"

"I have had a bit of free time, in my defense,"

Jack laughed again, and Ianto was happy to sit and wait for Jack to stop laughing at him long enough to ask the question Ianto knew he was going to ask.

"Would you… recite the poem for me?" He finally asked. Ianto smiled slowly and knowingly. "What? I love that accent. Those rounded vowels, they just do something to me,"

Ianto rolled his eyes and kicked his love under the table. "Before I do, I have to say that it reminds me of you,"

"Thank you?" Jack asked. Ianto simply smiled and cleared his throat.

_So we'll go no more a-roving,  
So late into the night,  
Though the moon be still as loving,  
And the moon be still as bright._

_For the sword outwears its sheath,  
And the soul wears out the breast,  
And the heart must pause to breathe,  
And love itself must rest._

_Though the night was made for loving,  
And the day returns too soon,  
Yet we'll go no more a-roving,  
By the light of the moon._

"Ianto?" Jack said, after a long pause broken only by Gwen's shrieks of laughter as she was now trying to catch chips from Rhys.

"Captain?" Ianto replied, eyeing him steadily.

Jack took awhile to speak, and to Ianto he seemed to be trying very hard to find the right words. Finally he settled upon something and he looked him in the eye and gripped his hand a little harder. He cleared his throat and when he spoke his voice wavered in the slightest.

"… You're my favorite,"

Ianto just smiled, leaning in for another kiss.

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A/N: Unedited, incomplete, yes I am aware there are plot lines that I have not attended to yet, but I will get there. In the meantime, the opening line is from _Julius Caeser_, the quote that's cited as being from _Clueless_ is from _Clueless _and the poem that's accredited to Lord Byron is called _"We'll Go No More A-Roving._" Hope it did it for you, cause it kinda did it for me.


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